Muck City (26 page)

“Check down,”
the coach told him again.

Oliver and Jaime were the hot reads across the middle, and just as Hester had said, both ran completely open. But Mario panicked and rushed the pass. He overthrew Oliver and the Raiders lost the ball again. Capitalizing on yet another turnover, Wright chipped his way downfield and set up another Merritt and Duke touchdown pass.

Everyone on the Raiders was having a bad game. It was as if a sickness had ridden in on the moist ocean air and seized even the strongest, most competent players. Boobie was next to fumble, on the Raider thirty-eight.

As if to make amends, Boobie and Jaja buttoned up the Panthers’ next drive and forced the punt. But on the Raiders’ first play, Page bobbled the ball on the handoff and fumbled. The Panthers took over on the ten. Within seconds, the score was 28–13.

As the defense skulked toward the sidelines, Mario paced up and down the bench.
“We straight! We straight!”
he assured his teammates, who stared ahead in disbelief, looking gray.

The quarterback rallied late in the second quarter, launching a perfect eighty-yard pass to Davonte, who was waiting in the end zone as if he were born there. But the touchdown was called back for an ineligible man downfield, one of the many Raider penalties on the night. Three plays later, Mario launched it again, this time finding KB on the twenty. The entire sideline shrieked as the Big Ticket bobbled the ball once again but managed to hold on for the score. The attempt at a two-point conversion was a dud. The Bad News Bears were finally saved when the whistle blew for the half.

As the Panthers commenced their homecoming ceremony, leading undefeated Glades Central 28–19, the Raider coaches huddled for a plan:

“They leavin the middle open and blitzing that middle linebacker late,” said Coach Andrew Mann.

“On the outside, they playing five to seven yards off,” said Coach Bruce Hytower. “If you go with a two- to three-receiver set and run your bubble screen, you’ll kill ’em all day long.”

“I know you don’t wanna do it,” said Coach Fat. “But you gotta change the snap count. No huddle and speed the tempo.”

“If Mario just takes his time,” said Coach Hall, “them receivers are all open.”

The coaches then turned to Hester, whose mind had settled on a simpler approach. They’ll just have to scrap it out, he said. He gathered the team at the far end of the field.

“As you guys can well see,” he said, “we gave these people twenty-eight dang points. Fumbles, fumbles, fumbles. And you guys understand this started early today with you cats coming in late. All the cats I locked
outside, those are the cats messing up. When we gonna get it right, guys? When we gonna be responsible? Is it so hard to be on time? Good thing is we have two more quarters to play. You cats settle down. All this moping is ugly, man. We playin completely
stupid
. It’s an easy fix, guys. O-line, I better not see my quarterback running around. I don’t care if they bring twenty people. Stop being lazy. Move your feet. Make it your job. This half, aint
nobody
gone touch your quarterback. It’s simple, guys: they don’t score no more.
No more
.”

“It’s time to talk about identity,” said Fat. “Now’s the time to find out who yall really are. Yall can put your head down like last year in the state game, or yall can rise up like Raiders. What yall gonna do?”

“No more!” someone shouted.

“Yeah, no more!”

But the Raiders could not dig themselves out. On their first possession of the second half, the Panthers tipped Mario’s pass for an interception. The Raider fans in the crowd booed and hissed, except for a lone voice of support—Aunt Gail, who screamed over the rancorous din until the veins bulged in her neck.

“Mario, honey, don’t you get frustrated!”

As if things couldn’t get any worse, KB fumbled the ball again. On another punt return, he caught the ball on the Raider forty-three and quickly found himself in traffic. As he spun out of a tackle, he left the ball unprotected at his side, waving it around like a loaf of bread. Then he lost it. The ball flew out of his fingers and onto the snarled clay field and was immediately recovered by a blue Panther jersey.

Dillard kept the ball another eleven plays, with Wright hammering the Raider line and driving them across the plain. Perched at the five-yard line, Merritt once again handed off to Wright, who slipped into the end zone.

The coaches lost their minds on the sideline.
“Hit that motherfucker in the face mask!”
Randy shouted at the line.
“Buckle that bitch’s knees!”

The Glades Central fans fell silent along with the Raider bench, who stared down at their feet, unwilling to look. The sight caused Mario to well
with fury. He marched up and down with his fists clenched, screaming into their downcast faces,
“Get up! Get your ass up!”

Then, once again, he came back. In the fourth quarter, Mario hit Oliver for two quick strikes up the left side. When his OL dissolved around him, the quarterback took off running on his bad legs for twenty yards and the first down. The next play, he found Oliver in the end zone. But the pass to Oliver again for the two-point conversion was too high, leaving the score 35–25.

With Glades Central now within striking distance, the quarterback went into the crowd. He climbed the chain-link fence separating the track and waved the fans to their feet and into a thunderous chant of
DEFENSE
!

On the field, the Panthers mercilessly chewed the clock, going for the kill. With five minutes left, Robert Way managed to bat the ball away and recover the fumble on the Panther forty-five.

On their last chance at victory, the Raiders mounted a drive.

“We goin Rocket Right, 989,” Hester yelled.

But the Panthers blitzed with everything and plastered Mario to the clay. They knocked him down the following play, but not before he turned it loose, a high floater to Davonte at the ten. On the next snap, he found Oliver, who trotted in for the touchdown.

But this time for the Raiders, it was too late. The two-point conversion attempt was batted down and the clock hit zero.

Dillard won, 35–31.

“Lose with grace!” Hester yelled. “Do not throw your helmets.”

It was Hester’s first regular-season loss in a three-year career as a head coach, an occasion he let slip past without ceremony. Instead, he addressed his weary team at the end zone.

“Guys, nothing needs to be said. When you get home, look yourself in the mirror. Ask yourself, ‘Did I do what my coach asked me to do?’ This is a football game that you lost. The sun’s gonna rise tomorrow. But you lost. So what are you gonna do about that?” He looked at Salter, his offensive lineman.

“Salt, can we beat Cocoa? Today?”

Salt shook his head. “Nah.”

“Then what are you gonna do to make yourselves better? The question is, guys, what is our ultimate goal?”

“To win state,” said Mario.

“Huh?”

“TO WIN STATE!”
the Raiders shouted.

“Don’t forget that,” the coach said. “This is where we start being a team. Today.”

Raider head coach Jessie Hester, “Jet.”

Senior wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin, “KB.”

Senior quarterback Jamarious Rowley, “Mario.”

Senior wide receiver Davonte Allen.

Jonteria Williams with her parents, Theresa and John.

Jonteria Williams in her bedroom.